Victoria has voted: the state’s most popular pub is Grand Hotel Warrandyte.
The Grand Hotel took out the People’s Choice Award at the 2018 Australian Hotels Association (Vic) State Awards for Excellence.
“Thank you to our wonderful community, amazing networks and everyone who supported us,” the pub noted. “We appreciate all the votes we received. We’re overwhelmed and beyond proud.”
In its third year, the popular People’s Choice Award was available to all 123 nominees. AHA Vic received an astonishing 5540 votes via the text line, which is more than three times the amount of votes received last year.
The awards were announced at a gala dinner last week at The Palladium at Crown.
The finalists and winners were honoured at the ceremony in front of 1130 guests and professionals from the hotel industry.
The AHA (Vic) State Awards for Excellence program was established in the late 1980s to recognise hotels and pubs in Victoria that demonstrate excellence across a range of categories.
The Overall Hotel of the Year (Metropolitan) was awarded to Hophaus Bier Bar Grill, while Oscars Hotel and Café Bar in Ballarat was awarded Overall Hotel of the Year (Regional). Best Pub Restaurant (Metropolitan) was won by Zagame’s Berwick while Yea Peppercorn Hotel was awarded Best Pub Restaurant (Regional). The hotly contested individual award category of Chef of the Year was awarded to Chris Bonello from MPD Steak Kitchen, Zagame’s Berwick, whilst Francis Deegan from Cardinia Park Hotel was acknowledged as the Emerging Leader of the Year. This year, both Jasmin Fleming from Watergarden’s Hotel and Daniel Foley from Red Lion Hotel were recognised for their Excellence in Service.
The evening’s coveted Nikakis Award, which was established in 1997 in memory of Nick Nikakis, “recognising an
individual or organisation who by their sustained performance and commitment serve as an inspiration to all in the
industry”, was awarded to Steve and Viv Phelan from the Flowerdale Hotel. Steve and Viv Phelan are the
quintessential country publicans.
The AHA noted: “For over 17 years these two people have faced responsibilities far beyond that of simply running a business together. Their pub is not only at the heart of their town but it was in fact the lifesaving soul of a small township.”
During the tragedy of Black Saturday in 2009, Steve and Viv turned their bistro and front bar in to a triage for locals.
Their first instinct when the fire was footsteps away from the pub door was to protect their neighbours, their
customers, rather than self-preservation.
The AHA added: “This is far more than just being community minded.”
Post the tragedy, The Flowerdale Hotel won the award for Outstanding Community Service and Achievement at the Victorian State Awards for Excellence and then continued on to win the same award at the National Awards for Excellence the following year, the most community minded hotel in Australia.
